Belong
by juniorvaristy
Summary: Hazel led a life she was happy with. But when she's wrongly accused of a crime, she's sent to live with her real family. The Randles. Steve's life was finally stable. But when his long-lost sister comes back, can Steve handle being a big brother? Or will
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I only own the people not mentioned in the book

**Author's Note: **This is my 2nd Outsiders fic and I know it sucks as of right now. But bear with me. Thanks!

Chapter One

            _'I swear I never knew…' Danny's voice echoed through the 14-year-old girl's head. Wiping away a nonexistent tear, she leaned further back into her seat, sinking farther into her huge sweatshirt; It was originally Danny's. _

            "We will be landing in Tulsa in approximately ten minutes." The voice of the pilot came over the speaker. The girl shifted uncomfortablely, careful not to awaken the passengers around her. The scent radiating from the sweatshirt reminded her so much of Danny. Her brother that wasn't really. All her life, she'd been deceived of a real family. But no matter what, she couldn't be mad at Danny. He'd taken care of her after their parents died. Or at least the people she thought to be her parents died. And yet she couldn't be angry with them either. Maybe it was best that she didn't find out about her biological family until she turned fourteen. Still, she wished she didn't have to find out about them under the circumstances she was in. She didn't do a thing and everyone knew it; they just refused to believe it. The only people who were willing to believe her besides Danny were her only friends in the world: Josh, Gary, and Ari. But four people hadn't been enough for the court jury. 

            _"Guilty!" the chairperson of the jury exclaimed, convicting the girl of a crime she had not committed. She had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. _

_            "Instead of placing you in juvenile detention, you will be put back with your biological family." And those words were too much for her to bear. Her eyes bulged, as did her brother's. Biological family? Was this man crazy? Apparently, he was not. The judge explained what had happened, but the girl had barely been listening. She was still numb from shock after the police told her she had a week to spend in the city. A week. They spoke to her harshly, as if she were a criminal. And she wasn't. _

_            "I never knew about anything. Mom and dad never said a word about you being an adopted child!" Danny had protested in confusion after the hearing, "I swear, I never knew!" She believed him. Why would their parents tell Danny something like that anyway? Ignorance was bliss, that's probably what they thought. And the girl accepted it. _

            She felt the eyes of the escorting policemen on her every time she made a move. They didn't trust her and she didn't expect them to. Still, she hated them. She hated them for not believing her when she pleaded innocent on the stands. She hated them for never believing for a second that it was the rich snob that had done the deed, not her. She hated them for being so damned biased against people of her status. 

            "Do you want something to drink?" the young police officer sitting next to her offered, smiling slightly. He had not said much to her the whole time and had not sneered at her with the rest, but she didn't like him just the same. She shook her head wordlessly, looking up at him for only a second before reattaching her eyes to the so-called view outside. 

            "I know you don't like the idea of meeting total strangers who are supposedly family, but it isn't that bad at all."

            She stared at him this time, cold green eyes digging into his warm brown ones. 

            "Oh come on, I'm not that bad to talk to, am I?"

            The girl shrugged and reluctantly shook her head.

            "You sure had a lot to say at the hearing. Now it's like you're on mute," he paused grinning to let her know he had only been joking, "Well what's your name?" he tried once more. 

            She tilted her head up at him and blinked, "Why are you talking to me?" her voice sounded hoarse to her; she hadn't spoken a single word since the police came for her that morning. 

            "Because you seem like a nice girl," he replied simply.

            "If I was such a nice girl, I wouldn't be on this little trip, would I?" 

            "Sometimes nice girls get screwed over. Sometimes, nice girls are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And most of the time when that happens, no one believes her." 

            She gaped at him for a minute before clearing her throat, "Hazel."

            "Hazel, huh? That's a pretty name," the police officer smiled, "I'm Ben. Ben Johnson."

            "Hazel Smith. But I guess that's not my real last name."

            Ben shook his head, "You're right there."

            "What is it then?"

            "Randle. They're pretty nice people," Ben commented as the plane began its descent. He watched Hazel's nervous demeanor. Obviously, she didn't like planes.

            "Hey relax," Ben assured her, "You'll be fine." Hazel looked at him. It would be okay. She'd be fine. She'd probably love her family. Right?

            _'Now I remember why I hate airports so much," Steve Randle grumbled as he trailed his mother in the busy Tulsa airport. She had been frantically searching for a flight coming in from Chicago, Illinois. His long-lost sister was coming in to stay with them for good, he was told. Steve only had faint memories of Hazel Randle, but what he did remember was all good. So he didn't understand how it happened when his mom told him that Hazel had gotten into trouble in Chicago and was forced to live with them. Steve was only about four when Hazel had mysteriously disappeared. He thought it was weird for about the first two months, but as he grew up, he eventually forgot about his little sister. Until he was reminded of her, of course. _

            "Steve, come on! Her flight's coming in right now!" Mrs. Randle tugged at Steve's arm. Steve rolled his eyes and followed her. 

            "It's okay, ma. She'll be fine. Besides, doesn't she have people with her?"

            "Yes, but you know how the police officers are so biased against criminals." Steve sighed and leaned against a wall. He found it hard to believe that his sister could get into so much trouble that would land her in Tulsa. It just didn't run in the family to get into shit that deep. After about fifteen minutes of waiting and making passer-bys intimidated, the flight finally came in. Steve crushed his cigarette butt in the ashtray and proceeded towards the opening doors where the passengers would come out. To say that he wasn't nervous would be a lie, but Steve didn't have much feeling for a girl that happened to be related to him that he hadn't seen or remembered. Somehow, Steve knew it was her when he saw the police officers leave the plane, a small girl within their little circle. 

            "Are you with Hazel Smith-Randle?" one serious looking police officer asked Mrs. Randle. 

            "Yes, we are," Mrs. Randle shifted her gaze to the daughter that she had so foolishly left for total strangers, "Oh Hazel! You've grown so much! You look exactly like your father. Like your brother!"

            Hazel's eyes were blank of emotion at first before she awkwardly smiled and stepped out of the protecting circle, "Thanks." Mrs. Randle gently elbowed Steve in the ribs. Steve, who had been leaning against the counter hardly paying attention to what was going on, jumped.

            "I'm Steve…your, uh, brother…" he introduced himself, holding out his hand.

            Hazel took his hand in a rough shake, "Hi." 

            "Our neighborhood's not much," Mrs. Randle continued as the police and Hazel followed her and Steve out to the parking lot, "But it's very comfortable. I'm sure you'll just love the school. The kids are a little biased sometimes, but maybe you can hang-out with Stevie's friends. What grade are you in?"

            "Ninth," Hazel replied. Steve stepped in.

            "Mom can I drive?"

            "Sure dear," she turned back to Hazel, "You're in Ponboy Curtis's grade. You'll probably have classes with him. Oh those Curtis boys are just so nice. You'll love it. She'll love it, won't she Steve?"

            "Sure thing, ma." Steve sighed. Hazel could wait until _after they got home to get acquainted, couldn't she? _

            "Ma," Steve started looking at his sister for the first time, "She looks tired. Let's go home." Hazel smiled gratefully at Steve who winked in return before pulling out another cigarette. _'Maybe having a little sister won't be so bad after all,' _Steve thought, pulling out of the parking lot. He just hoped Hazel wouldn't have the reputation of a JD. He wouldn't be able to imagine what would happen to her if she did. 

**Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I only own the people not mentioned in the book

**Author's Note: **This is my 2nd Outsiders fic and I know it sucks as of right now. But bear with me. Thanks!

Chapter 2

            "So what was your other family like?" Steve asked Hazel as they made their way over to the Curtis house. He hadn't really mastered talking to her yet, being the—notice the sarcasm—amazing conversationalist that he was. 

            "They were…nice," Hazel replied uncomfortablely, "We didn't have much money either."

            Steve laughed bitterly, "Mom thought she was doing such a good thing, giving you away to such good people. Look at how that turned out."

            "The Smith's _were_ good people!" Hazel shot back defensively. 

            "Yeah? Why are you here then?"

            "I didn't do it! I didn't do the shit they said I did! And if my parents were still alive, they would've defended me until I got let off the hook!" 

            "Still alive?" Steve stopped walking. Hazel froze in her tracks, realizing exactly what she just said. 

            "They died, okay? They died and that's why we didn't have much money."

            "We?"

            "Do you have to know everything about me?" Hazel shot at him. Steve blinked a few times, taken aback, before he shrugged in his careless manner and opened the door to the Curtis household. 

            "Soda, Darry, Pony! Is there anyone here?!" 

            "I'm right here, you don't have to scream," Pony was sitting on the couch, reading. As usual. Steve scowled at him. Pony just looked over his shoulder at Hazel with curiosity. 

            "Who's she?" he asked Steve. 

            Ignoring him, Steve replied with another question, "Where are Soda and Darry?"

            "They should be back soon." He glanced at Hazel again and she, in turn, edged a little closer to Steve. There was something about this boy that got Hazel both intrigued and a bit frightened. His eyes held it all. It was as if he knew so much, seen so much, but didn't know anything at the same time. The door creaked and in walked two older boys that Hazel registered as mystery boy's older brothers. Steve moved to the side to let them and so did she. Trailing them was a loud boy. A very loud boy. 

            "Good afternoon, everyone!!!" he yelled, announcing his entrance. Immediately, Hazel liked him. 

            "Hey," were the scattered replies. The loud one seemed to be the only one with any energy left in him. 

            "Who are you?" he asked bluntly, spotting Hazel. For the first time, mystery boy's two older brothers noticed her presence.

            "You guys," Steve cleared his throat, "this is my sister Hazel." It was so silent in the room after he said that, the dripping of the water droplets in the sink could be heard. 

            "You have a…sister?" muscle man, the one who looked the oldest, inquired. 

            Steve nodded, "Yeah, it's a long story." 

            "We've got time," movie star, the real good-looking one, shrugged plopping down on the couch next to mystery boy. The loud boy dropped onto the floor watching Steve intently while muscle man leaned his tall figure against the frame of the door. Hazel watched her brother struggle to start the story. 

            "Well…you see…what happened was…she was adopted by another family," he finally blurted out, "And this happened when I was like six or seven. I don't really remember much of her though. She's two years younger than me so she was four. We were going to go bankrupt and we didn't really have the money to feed all four of us. My mom never thought to ask any of y'all for help; she don't like charity much you know that," he swallowed, "so she thought that by putting one of her kids up for adoption, it would end up being a win-win situation. She put Hazel up because she was still young and could forget about the miserable beginning of her life once she got older. I was already in school and I already had friends. It would be too strange for me to leave so Hazel went. We never heard from her since the day she was adopted by the Smith's, a nice family with just one son." That seemed to be all that Steve was willing to tell.

            "So…why are you here?" mystery boy turned to Hazel. 

            She shrugged, "I got into some trouble," she began speaking for the first time since she and Steve had arrived at the Curtis house, "I mean, I didn't actually do what they accused me of doing, but I lost the case. Instead of sending me to Juvy Hall, they sent me to live with my biological family. My parents, I mean my adoptive parents, died a few years ago in a plane wreck. My older brother and I lived my ourselves. Along the way, we found a bunch of orphans and we hung around them." 

            "What did they accuse you of doing?" muscle man asked.

            "I don't really want to talk about it." And that was the end of that conversation. The boys introduced themselves. Ponyboy, the mystery boy, Sodapop, the movie star, and Darry, the muscle man, were brothers just as Hazel had guessed. Two-bit, the loud boy, was not his real name; it was Keith. But apparently, nobody called him that. 

            "We had two more buddies," Soda explained, "But they died a few months ago." Hazel nodded and showed signs of sympathy. It seemed a little strange to her that so many deaths had taken place. Darry had told her that he and his brothers lost their parents to a car accident. She wondered to herself if any of the rich people ever had these kinds of problems. When her parents were alive, she didn't remember having to hear about all these deaths. The Smith's weren't exactly rich people, but they weren't poor. They were in the middle-class and pretty well off. After the death of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Danny and Hazel were left to fend for themselves. Eventually, they lost all their money and sold the house so they wouldn't starve to death. 

            "I can show you around the neighborhood if you want," Ponyboy offered Hazel when he noticed she looked a little bit lost even in his house. 

            "It's okay," Steve jumped in, "I was going to take her around right now. Come on, Hazel. We'll see you guys around."

            "Thanks anyway," Hazel said to Pony as Steve was pulling her out of the house, a little confused as to why he couldn't come along if he wanted to. But Pony didn't seem fazed. He smiled at her and waved. 

            "One thing you have to know," Steve said straight off the bat, "is that I never really had experience being a brother before." 

            "It doesn't take much. You'll learn," Hazel assured him. 

            "I'm sure I will. Another thing is that there ain't nothing you can do about Socs, or Socials if you want to get technical." 

            Hazel was confused. Steve sighed and launched himself into a full explanation on what the socs were and why they were bad and stuff like that. It was all foreign to her, but Hazel listened anyway. 

            _'We never had so many complications dealing with social classes back at home,' Hazel thought sullenly to herself, __'Then again, this is home now.'_

**Thanks for the reviews:**

**Just me: **Um…here? Lol, thanks for the review!

**RebelDream2222: **Thanks, I try to update whenever I can.

**Summer: **thanks!!

**Breej: **Hey…how'd you guess?! Okay, fine. Who do you think she'll be with?

**Jessie C: **Ah,thanks. It took me awhile to finish it so I thought it was a bit dry. But thanks!

**Buzz: **You're review cracked me up!!! It was like that cell phone commercial. Thanks for reviewing!

**Naria4: **Thanks!

**DallysGirl4life: **Sadly, no…you're a dally fan aren't you? How'd I guess? Call it intuition…lol

**MissLKid: **My first reviewer!!! You do? Whoa…Ben Johnson, what are the chances of that? Hey ask him what he wants to be when he grows up. It would be funny if he said police officer!! =D

**Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I only own the people not mentioned in the book

**Author's Note: **I'm so sorry it took so long to update!!!

Chapter Three

            Hazel was intrigued, to say the very least. Steve had explained to her the difference between Socs and Greasers in Tulsa. She was a Greaser, but she'd already figured that much out by herself. It would be interesting, she decided, to see how these socs acted towards her on her first day of school.

            "Do we get a lot of work?" Hazel asked her brother, skipping to keep in step with him.

            "Yeah, we get some. Why? Are you, like, a genius child or something?"

            "No. I just care. And someday, I want to go to college."

            Steve snorted, "That's almost impossible. Where are you going to get the dough?"

            "It's called a scholarship."

            "It's called a miracle." 

            Hazel rolled her eyes and fell back behind Steve. Did he really have that little faith in her? Did he really think that she couldn't do it? Well she'd prove him wrong, that was for sure. By the time she got into senior year of high school, she'd have more than enough credits to graduate and possibly get a scholarship. 

            "A job," Hazel whispered to herself. That was it! She'd get a job and add on to the little savings that she already had. 

            "A what?" Steve questioned, looking back at Hazel.

            "A job," Hazel repeated.

            "What about a job?"

            "I want a job," she clarified. Steve gave her an incredulous look and rolled his eyes. Hazel glared at his back. Maybe he didn't know her very well and all, but he didn't have to be so mean about it. 

            "What are you going to do? Waitress at a diner?" Steve asked finally stopping in front of a locker.

            "That's not a bad idea."

            Steve groaned, "Please don't. This is your locker by the way. Here's the combination. Mine is on the other side of school so…ya know…if you ever need to use it because yours is too far…it ain't too messy is all I'm sayin'." 

            Hazel smiled at him, attempting to open her locker, "Thank you. See? It wasn't that hard to be nice to me, was it?" she joked.

            "Shut it."

            "Um…can you help me?" 

            For the first time since she'd arrived in Tulsa, she saw Steve Randle laugh. Hazel knew if must have been rare because the kid from the neighborhood, the little brother of Steve's best friend, looked surprised.

            "Hi Steve. Hey Hazel," he smiled at them. 

            "Hey kid," Steve nodded at him, swinging Hazel's locker open. She blushed furiously. 

            "You're going to have to do that for me everyday, you know? Hi," she turned to the boy, guilty because she didn't remember his name. All she knew was that it was an original name. The three greasers made small talk before the first bell rang.

            "Steve, where's my first class?" Hazel asked apprehensively. In all honesty, she was a bit frightened of her older brother.

            Grumbling, Steve took the schedule from her, "I'll show you. Come on." Hazel said a quick good-bye to Ponyboy, whose name she had remembered finally, before jogging to keep up with Steve. In the back of her mind, she wondered why her…brother…seemed so mad all of the sudden. _'This is a difficult one to figure out,'_ she thought sullenly to herself. 

            Steve felt a twinge of guilt for laughing at her dream to go to college that morning. But it was true. Unless she came up with the money _somewhere_, Hazel was going to be stuck in Tulsa forever, which was sad, of course. He was angry at himself, though. He'd told himself the night before that he was going to try his absolute hardest to be a good brother and a good friend to his sister. If Soda could do it, he could too. He hated to admit it to anyone, but he really _did_ care about Hazel. He remembered, faintly, laughing and playing with her in the backyard when they were little. 

           "One time," Steve said softly out of the blue as the two were waiting for everyone else outside the school, "when you were two and I was four, we were playing on the tire swing in the back-yard." 

            Hazel snapped out of whatever daze she was in and became interested.

            "There's a picture of it somewhere in my room. I haven't seen it in ages though. We were taking turns on the swing, pushing each other. So when it was your turn again, I got off the swing and was ready to push you. But mom had gone inside for a minute to make us lemonade because it was hot. You really wanted to go so I tried to pick you up. I dropped you by accident. You started crying real loud and me? I ain't never been so worried before that. I didn't want to get in trouble with mom. But you stopped crying suddenly and held your hands out to me. I helped you up and put you on the swing…you didn't fall off. I started pushing you and you laughed. Mom took a picture right then. Turns out, she was standing there the whole time. When we had to give you away, I remember mom refused to take the tire swing down because it reminded her of you," Steve finished softly. Hazel looked up at him, smiling. It was times like this, she really liked her brother. 

            Throughout the whole school day, Hazel had gotten lost several times, but she was always afraid to ask. She was scared of the socs and she hadn't seen much of the greasers around. She'd seen Steve a few times in the halls, but he didn't see her. If he did, he'd chosen to ignore her. Hazel didn't say anything because he figured he wouldn't respond anyway. But when they were alone together or with just a few people around, Steve was extremely nice to her. It confused her, but Hazel knew why he was doing it. At school, he had a status to keep, a reputation. Apparently, little sisters would cramp his style. It should've hurt Hazel at least a tiny bit; she knew that. But for some strange reason, she understood and she didn't really care. Maybe it was the fact that she barely knew him as it was. Maybe she just got past the point of caring already. Or maybe she just missed Illinois too much. 

            Hazel tuned back into the present where Two-bit had already arrived and was in the middle of telling some joke. Ponyboy was there as well. They were walking towards the car and laughing at Two-bit's joke, Hazel not understanding a word of it but pretending that she did. Nobody needed to know that she wasn't paying much attention. 

            "Hazel," Steve called out her name. She jumped a little.

            "Yeah?"

            "Are you coming to the DX with us or not?" he sounded impatient.

            "The what?"

            "The DX." 

            "Uh…sure," Hazel muttered, not really knowing why they were heading to a gas station. She soon found out that Steve worked there. So for an hour, she hung around Two-bit and Ponyboy, watching Steve and Soda work diligently and attract more ladies than a celebrity. 

            Steve watched Hazel from the corner of his eyes as he worked on cars and absent-mindedly talked to girls. She seemed at ease with Two-bit, but something about Ponyboy seemed to make her uptight. Steve secretly hoped that she would shy away from the tag-along kid. It wasn't that he absolutely hated Ponyboy since he didn't. It was something else about him that made Steve iffy about having his little sister hang around him.     _'What are you saying Steve?' he asked himself, __'She's fourteen. She can take care of herself. She can decide who she wants to hang around for herself just fine. Besides, you've seen how chicks get when their brother's get too protective in the movies.' Steve reasoned with himself. But he couldn't get that uneasy feeling out of the pit of his stomach. Not until he and Hazel went home that night anyway. _

**Thanks for all the reviews!!!**

**Angie: **Hehe, thanks!

**Dollwithouteyes: **I'm glad it does J

**Tallemera Rane: **Yes, there will be fights…soon. Oh yes, Steve as a bro…all I have to say is that it's definitely…not boring. 

**RebelDream2222: **Thanks! My school's team name is Rebels. So whenever I look at your user name, I keep thinking of my swim team :D.

**Two-BitGortez: **I'll try and update regularly…but I can't promise anything because I have a ton of work to do.

**Kimmerkay: **Thanks!

**Kate: **Thanks! Haha, I know what you mean and I respect your opinion. I was thinking about what you said and you're right. There will definitely be a relationship in this story because, you'll see, it causes a lot of problems. But it doesn't really develop for another few chapters.

**Jesse James N Slim: **I don't know why, but I really like writing Steve stories. Maybe it's because his character's so…usable. 

**DallysGirl4Life: **Lol, well bad boys are even better if they're sweet at heart.

**MissLKid: **Ah…the artistic type. You gotta be careful with those J. Just kidding.

**Naria4: **Well…it's going to be one of those fics. Kind of. I guess. Well, you'll see.

**Usrockstar: **I tried. I really did try and update soon. But then my teachers threw work at me. *Shakes fist at teachers* Anyway, yeah Hazel…I don't really know where I got it from. I don't know where I get half the names I use actually.

**Please review!**


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